What Changed Him
by PumpkinHolly115
Summary: This is a story about Sherlocks life as a child and what gave him his loner, no friend, sociopath attitude. Warning! contains child abuse and severe main character death  sorry .
1. Freaks and Friends

_Hi everyone! This is my first ever fanfiction so i hope you like it! Please review if you have the time, it would make me very happy (criticism is welcomed). _

By the way, _**bold italics **are the present day and_ normal writing_ is the past. _

_Enjoy!_

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><p><em><strong>"Sherlock?" John Watson said, tentatively. There was no reply, as he knew there wouldn't be. He wished he knew what was bothering the tall detective whom he was trying to talk to. John hated it when this happened. Sherlock would just lie on the sofa and not say a word, sometimes for days at a time. John stared at Sherlock's face of stony indifference and knew it was a lie.<strong>_

_**"Um, Sherlock, you have a text from lestrade. He's got a case for us." John tried again. Silence. He let out a huff and left the room.**_

_**Sherlock sighed and looked around. It had been exactly nineteen years today since it had happened. He tried his hardest not to think about it. To block it out. But some days that just wasn't possible and it all came flooding back. Today was one of those days.**_

_**Sherlock shut his eyes and groaned. Memories were coming thick and fast now. Giving up on shutting them out he instead submersed himself in them, starting at the beginning, as far back as he could remember…**_

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><p>A small boy, around seven years old, sat on a bench. Looking disdainfully down at his snack he picked up a sandwich and begun to chew slowly. At the sound of shouting coming from nearby he looked up. Two girls who looked the same age as the boy were having a heated argument three meters from where the boy was sitting.<p>

"WIERDO!"

"That's cruel! " A girl with long, wavy, red hair said, looking on the verge of tears.

"Well, you are! You never want to play hair dressers or dolls or anything! You just sit there and read your book! Your weird and you have no reason to be, why can't you just act normal? I don't want to be your best friend anymore. "

"That's mean Sally!"

But the other girl had already run off, leaving the ginger girl to sit on the floor and start to cry.

The dark haired boy was still watching unnoticed by the girl. He was watching closely, examining her every move. Suddenly the girls head snapped up and she hastily wiped away her tears looking around.

"What are you looking at?" She snapped.

"You're crying." The boy stated, his head cocked to one side.

"Yes," the girl said defiantly, "And?"

The boy looked confused.

"Do you enjoy it?"

"What?"

"Crying. Do you enjoy it?"

The girl just looked at him.

"Well, it's just you seem to be doing a lot of it recently and I was wondering why you would do something you didn't enjoy."

"You've never cried?" She asked.

"Of course I have, but I didn't enjoy it so I haven't done it since." The girl was staring at him as if he was mad.

At this point the bell rang for silence, signalling the end of break effectively ending their conversation and saving the girl from having to answer.

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><p>The next day, lunch started of pretty much the same way. The thin, dark haired boy sat on his bench and started eating his sandwich, looking as if there was nowhere else in the world he would want to be less than where he was then. He had finished his sandwich and started on his apple when a shadow fell across his face. He looked up into the face of a large boy who was in year six.<p>

"Yes?" He said politely.

"You're that weird kid in year three, aren't you? My brother, Jonathon Anderson , is in you class and he says you're a total nutter. Just to let you know, we don't accept weirdoes here. So you better stop being such a freak or you'll regret it."

"What did you call me?" The boy asked in a quiet voice.

"Are you deaf? I said Freak. Maybe I have you speak louder so you can hear." All the boy's friends were laughing now. "YOU ARE A FREAK! FREAK! I SAID FREAK!"

"Excuse me?" said a voice from next to Anderson's brother. It was the small girl with long red hair that the boy on the bench had seen crying the day before.

"What?" The bully snapped rudely.

"I was wondering if I could make a suggestion?" The girl waited for answer and when there wasn't one continued anyway.

"I think you should stop being such cowards and pick on someone your own size."

Anderson's brother took a menacing step forward and snarled "Oh, do you?"

"Yes." She said simply. "I do."

"And what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll tell Mrs Smith." Mrs Smith was the menacing deputy head that nobody liked. In many ways, she was scarier than the headmaster.

The boy stumbled backwards.

"Y-You wouldn't."

"I would."

The bullies scattered, all running in different directions to get away from the tiny ginger girl that could cause so much havoc.

The girl smiled at the boy who stared for a moment before tentatively giving a tiny smile back.

"Hi, my name's Ruby."

"I'm Sherlock Holmes."


	2. Colds and Clothing

_Hi guys! Thanks to you people who reviewed, they were really nice. I tried to get this chapter up quite quickly so sorry if there are any mistakes. Again, please review, criticism is welcomed._

_Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer - i only own Ruby and Chloe. All the rest you have Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss to thank for._

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><p>"Hi, my name's Ruby."<p>

"I'm Sherlock Holmes."

"Sherlock? That's an odd name."

She must have noticed when he scuffed his feet and bowed his head slightly because she hastily added "but I like it. Sherlock is a nice name."

"Ruby's a very pretty name too." Sherlock said with a small smile.

"Do you want to be my friend?"

"F-Friend?" Sherlock had never had a friend before. He knew about them of course but had never tried to get one. Not that anyone would want to be friends with such a freak. She was still looking at him expectantly though, waiting for an answer.

"I don't like labels or tags." He said quietly eyes on the floor. She didn't say anything, she just stood there. Eventually deciding he couldn't ignore this awkward conversation any longer, Sherlock looked up. Ruby was looking at him, confusion etched on her freckled face.

"I don't understand what that means." She admitted.

Sherlock looked curiously into her face. She actually wanted to be his friend! He glanced across the playground where he could see Peter Anderson (Jonathan's brother) standing with his group of friends, all glaring intently in their direction.

"It means yes. I'll be your friend."

Ruby's face split into a wide smile

And that was how it started.

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><p>"Who was that who picked you up after school yesterday?"<p>

Ruby and Sherlock were sitting cross-legged at the edge of the playground, where the tarmac turned into grass. Ruby was making a daisy chain out of some flowers she had found on a nearby bush that were clearly not daisies. When Sherlock pointed this out to her she just ignored him, continuing making her "daisy chain". He was staring around, absentmindedly shredding his ham roll.

"What? Oh, that was my brother Mycroft. He's seventeen. My parents were busy so they sent him to pick me up. Nothing unusual there." He sounded rather bitter. Ruby didn't notice though. She knew what question must be coming now they were on the subject of siblings. But Sherlock didn't say anything. He had continued shredding his roll into smaller and smaller pieces.

"Aren't you going to ask me what siblings I have?" Ruby burst out before she could stop herself. She gasped and bit her lip.

"You want me to?" Sherlock sounded confused, though Ruby didn't see why he should.

"No." She said truefuly.

"Then wh-"Sherlock began sounding utterly bemused.

"It's what most people would do and I was wondering why you didn't."

"Oh. Well I didn't ask because I already know and I thought you wouldn't want to talk about it."

Her head snapped up. "You what?"

"I already know what happened to your sister."

She looked severely shaken, her eyes wild, darting over his face, looking for the slightest hint of a lie.

"Not f-funny… D-don't joke about… Y-you can't know…" She was shivering, despite the abnormally warm weather for the end of September. Sherlock wished he had kept his mouth shut.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I should have thought about what I was saying."

"How do you know?"

"Are you su-"

"Yes." She said firmly.

Sherlock sighed.

"Two weeks ago you had a couple of days of school. When you came back you claimed you had a cold, when sally asked you during maths. That was clearly a lie. You hadn't been coughing, no sign of a runny nose or a sore throat and you didn't have one before you left either. No cold can go that quickly. And then there's your jumper. Clearly not yours, it's too big, so it belongs to an older sibling, sister going by the pattern. Until about two weeks ago you would always wear your own clothes, now you suddenly wearing your sisters. You look after it and carefully rolled up the sleeves in art yesterday when we were painting. Its well-worn but you are so careful with it which meant its previous owner loved it. This leads to ask, why you are wearing something loved by your older sister? I came to the conclusion that she must have died two weeks ago and you were absent from school for her funeral. I'm sorry."

There was a short pause.

"Your right." She said sadly. "Her name was Chloe. I miss her so much. She had just started year seven and at her school they take all the new students to Cornwall for a week. She drowned in the sea while on one of the activities. I never got to say goodbye properly."

Ruby was crying, tears were pouring silently down her face. Sherlock didn't know what to do so he leant over and patted her on the back.

"I'm sorry." He repeated.

"It's not your fault."

"I shouldn't have said anything."

"How long have you been watching me? You've seen quite a lot."

"I don't watch only you, I watch everybody, and I don't see, I observe. I notice what other people don't. It's why I get called freak."

"So… You can analyse everyone?"

"Yes."

"How come you don't put your hand up in class? You're a genius!"

Sherlock smiled at this and said, "Class is boring."

"What? We're doing time, the romans, plants, space-"

"Yes, as I said. Boring."

"Fine, if you think so. Can you tell me a bit about her?" She pointed at a girl who was playing hopscotch on the other side of the playground.

Sherlock spent the rest of lunch deducting things about people and explaining how he knew it while Ruby encouraged him. She hadn't met somebody so interesting in her life and she hoped they would be friends for a long time. Little did she know, Sherlock was thinking exactly the same thing.


	3. Bruises and Bikes

_Hi! Well, here it is, chapter three! In case any of you are confused they go to a school where they can where their own clothes. Again, please review, it would make me happy. Criticism welcomed._

Disclaimer - If i owned Sherlock i would not be writing Fan Fictions.

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><p>Over the next few months everything seemed to be perfect. Sherlock and Ruby would spend all their lunches and breaks together, talking. Sometimes, when they ran out of things to say they would just sit in comfortable silence. Sherlock would stare around the playground watching people and trying to work out what they had eaten for dinner yesterday by their shoelaces while Ruby would draw. She had asked the teachers permission to use the colouring tray at lunchtime and was delighted when she was allowed to.<p>

Ruby loved drawing and was becoming better day by day. She would draw people, trees, cups and apples. She would draw birds, clothes, toys and the sky. Ruby would draw anything but above all she loved drawing Sherlock. Sherlock had noticed, of course, but hadn't commented, instead just leaving her to it.

Sherlock had also been giving Ruby deduction lessons. She wanted to know how he did it and ignored him when he said it wasn't something you could learn to do. She was getting better at it and, much to her delight had even managed to work out that a boy in their class still wet the bed from the way he was sitting.

It was mid-February when Ruby first noticed something was off. She had already noticed Sherlock becoming more and more secluded over the past week but she had put it down to boring lessons as she couldn't see what else it could be.

"Hi Sherlock!" It was break time and Sherlock was sitting cross-legged leaning against the wall, head down. He looked up, alarmed at this sudden outburst of noise before relaxing when he saw Ruby running towards him

"Was this class boring?"

"Of course, magnets are simple. Attract, repel. What else is there to know? I don't know why they insist on teaching us this drivel for more than five minutes, let alone three weeks!"

Ruby looked at the thin, pale boy and saw that he wasn't as pale as he usually was. In fact he was bright red and sweating profusely.

"Whoa! Sherlock, you're boiling up! It's the first warm day this year, take your jumper off."

Sherlock stiffened at her request.

"I am fine, I don't want to take it off."

"Sherlock…"

"NO."

"Why not?"

"Because I like this jumper."

"Thats not an answer and I am not giving up until you give me a proper one. I don't want my only friend to burn up and die."

"Not possible."

"I don't care, it cant be good for you. Now, TAKE THAT JUMPER OFF."

They glared at each other and Ruby crossed her arms. Sherlock could see she was not going to give up anytime soon.

"Fine." He huffed angrily and he pulled his jumper off.

Ruby gasped. There, on Sherlocks upper arm was a large, nasty, black and purple bruise.

"Sherlock, what happened to you?" She demanded.

"What? Oh. That. Well, I…" He shifted miserably. "I… I fell of my bike."

She glared at him suspiciously.  
>"You don't have a bike."<p>

"I was on Mycroft's."

"He's ten years older than you, you can't ride his bike!"

"Why do you think I fell off?"

Ruby was about to reply when the bell went for lessons. But Ruby hadn't given up. She was going to find out, if it was the last thing she did.

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><p>"Sherlock?"<p>

It was lunchtime now and they were sitting on the bench where they first met. Sherlock groaned. He knew what was coming.

"Yes, Ruby?"

"What happened to your arm?" She asked again.

"I told you. I fell off Mycroft's bike."

"Who punched you Sherlock?"

His eyes widened.

"What?"

"I'm better than you think. That bruise looks exactly like one my Daddy got when he had been in a fight with somebody at a pub. That and the fact you have been lying to me about what happened. Who punched you? Was it Peter Anderson from year six? If it was you could always punch him back, you wouldn't get told off."

"No it… It wasn't him"

Both Ruby and Sherlock realised his mistake at the same time. He had admitted somebody punched him.

"Poo." Sherlock exclaimed.

"Well? Who was it?"

"You have to promise not to tell anyone. No one at all, OK?" Ruby had never seen him look this nervous.

"I promise"

"My Father. He started last week and did it again yesterday. I don't know what I did to upset him"

Ruby's face had darkened and she was scowling. Sherlock new she was not angry at him, but angry on his behalf.

"Sherlock, you have to tell someone! Go to the police! That's not allowed!"

"No, he told me not to tell anyone."

"But-"

"NO, Ruby they won't believe me and it will only get worse. You promised."

"Fine I'll keep your secret but it's not right. You're to tell me if it happened again, you understand?"

He nodded and she smiled at him.

"Ok, guess what I worked out about Madam Geng in French!"

"If it's the fact that she's an imposter then I worked that out ages ago."

"Oh, ok then."

Sherlock then explained how he knew things about more people while Ruby listened, wishing there was something she could do to help her best friend.

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><p>The first time it happened, Sherlock had been trying to get Mycrofts chemistry set from the top shelf in his bedroom. His brother and his mum were out and his dad usually left him to his own devices. He was standing on a chair and reaching up. He lost his balance and fell sideways bringing quite a few of Mycrofts heavy books with him. Fortunatly none of them hit him but they did hit the ground making a surprisingly loud noise.<p>

His father burst in to the room.

"What did you do?"

"I fell off the chair while trying to get to the chemistry set. Some books fell too."

"Pick them up then." His father growled.

Sherlock looked at his father, shocked. He had never heard him speak that way to anybody before.

"I said pick them up!" He strode across the room to where his son was sitting in a pile of books and whacked him across the face. Sherlock yelled out in pain and hurriedly started piling the books back on the shelf. When that was done, his dad grabbed the back of his jumper and all but threw him out of the room.  
>"If you tell anyone about this you'll be sorry, you hear me. Nobody will believe you. Understand?"<p>

Sherlock nodded.

"Use your words boy! I said DO. YOU UNDERSTAND?" He punctured each word with a blow to the boys head.

"Yes father." And with that, his dad strode off and left Sherlock to wonder what he had done to make his dad so upset.


	4. Homes and Hope

_Hi everyone! Sorry i haven't updated in so long i have been busy and i had writers block :( _

_Also sorry for the short chapter, i wanted to save up the dramatic stuff for next chapter (which i hopefully might be able to get up by the end of today)_

_As always thanks to everyone who reviewed or put my storys on alerts and please review!_

_Disclaimer - i don't own Sherlock :(_

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><p>Sherlock lied. He knew he would never tell Ruby when his father beat him. He didn't want to make her upset or to run the risk that she might tell someone if she knew how often it was happening. However Ruby was better than he gave her credit for. She managed to deduce it half the times it happened but that might also be partly the fact Sherlock couldn't hide the bruises on his face.<p>

One day in May, Ruby was sitting in waiting in the playground for Sherlock before school started. She looked up, grinning, when he walked through the school gates but the smile slid quickly from her face.

"Sherlock…"

He had a large black eye, an inch long cut along his forehead and he was limping slightly. His dad had done it again.

"yes, Ruby?"

"He needs to stop, you need to go to-"

"No Ruby."

"Sherlock-"

"I SAID NO! He said I was'nt allowed to tell anyone."

"But-"

"Ruby!" She glared at him.

"Fine, fine, ok. But Sherlock do you know where I live?" He gave a stiff nod. " Well if you ever need to get away from home then come to mine. You don't need to ask me, just come over, ok?"

"ok." He grinned at her tentatively and she smiled reluctantly back.

"Oy! Freak!" Sally Donoven from there class was walking over, smirking.

"What happened to your face? Did somebody beat you up? Well, your such a freak that you deserve it if they did."

Sherlock had grabbed onto the back of Ruby's jumper to stop hert launching herself onto sally. Even though he was pretending not to care he had gone very pale and was shaking very slightly.

"I fell down the stairs." He said evenly, no expression to his voice.

"Ha! You should look where you're going so you don't trip over your own feet!" and with that, she walked off.

Ruby stopped struggling to get out of Sherlock's grasp and turned to look at him.

"She fell for that? How on earth are you meant to get a black eye from falling down some stairs?"

"Yes, well dear Sally never was the brightest of people." At this Ruby snorted with laughter and Sherlock grinned slightly. Then the bell rang and they all trooped inside to endure another lesson of percentages.

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><p>Sherlock took up her offer of visiting her house and found himself there quite often. Ruby lived in a nice little cottage on the edge of town with her mother and father. It had three bedrooms and a very pretty little garden with ivy growing up the walls and rose bushes along the flower bed. Chloe's room, Sherlock noticed from the dust on the door handle, hadn't been entered since her death and Ruby seemed to tense every time they walked past it.<p>

After a few weeks of this arrangement Sherlock decided to show Ruby his home. His mother and his father were both very busy, important people and were rarely both in the house at the same time. He invited Ruby over at a time when both his parents were out Mycroft was looking after him.

Sherlock's house was the complete opposite of Ruby's. It was an enormous mansion with four floors and a massive garden, complete with swimming pool.

"You have a swimming pool?" Ruby asked weakly.

"Yes an outside one and an inside one, both have heating, of course."

"Of course." Ruby echoed, staring out of the window into the garden with wide eyes.

They decided to play hide and seek, limiting themselves to one floor to make it easier. Sherlock, who didn't usually enjoy this type of game, discovered that he enjoyed it immensely when playing it with Ruby.

After that they would spend almost every day after school at each other houses. Ruby's house when Sherlock's dad was at home, and Sherlock's house when it would be Mycroft or his mum looking after them.

By the end of year three they were inseparable. They talked about anything and everything and spent all their time together. Sherlock dad was hurting him less and less (now only twice a month) and life seemed great. Sherlock hoped things would stay that way.


End file.
